Mrs. Margaret Smith Injuston 1841. SELECT CHRISTIAN AUTHORS, WITH INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS. Damil Whyte. iverpool, Sept. 1841. 41. THE MOURNER'S COMPANION. WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY ROBERT GORDON, D. D. EDINBURGH. GLASGOW: PRINTED FOR CHALMERS AND COLLINS: WILLIAM WHYTE AND CO. AND WILLIAM OLIPHANT, EDINBURGH; AND G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER, LONDON. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. It is the express declaration of Scripture, that "God doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men;" and if the declaration be understood as meaning, that he cannot take pleasure in their suffering, and cannot therefore inflict it merely for the purpose of making them unhappy, it is one in which no professing Christian can hesitate to acquiesce. The truth of the proposition, indeed, is necessarily implied in the first and simplest idea that we are taught to entertain of the divine nature; for, if we have conceived of the character of God at all, as we have been accustomed to hear that character spoken of in a professedly Christian community, we must have conceived of him as a being of infinite beneficence, wisdom, and power; and infinitely removed, therefore, beyond the influence of those motives by which one human being is tempted to make encroachments on the comfort and happiness of another. As omnipotent, he has nothing to fear from the efforts of his creatures, be they ever so daring or malignant; because no efforts of theirs can, in the slightest degree, affect his blessedness, or detract from the essential |